Our Road Trip 2013...Advice Please ;)

Hi There

Being new to the forum I thought I would post our idea of the road trip we are looking at completing next year (hopefully!!)

We are based in the UK and have just completed Route 66 road trip (from West to East) and had such a fantastic time (and loved the people so much), we want to come back and do another one!! This time we are looking at starting and finishing in Vegas, taking in the states of Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and South Dakota. The details are pretty thin at the moment, but we will be taking in the usual Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, and other wonderful sights along the way..

We have 30 days for the trip, this includes two night stay in Vegas (I think that may be long enough!!)..

I guess at this stage we are just looking for any suggestions regarding MUST see's and do's along our way. Once we have these then we can start to fine tune our route..!!

Thanks everyone and we look forward to hearing from all you lovely people soon..

Getting started

Welcome to the Great American RoadTrip Forum. We'd love to know more about your Route 66 caper. By the way, the courtesy on this forum is to keep all posts about one trip plan in one thread, so I deleted the one you posted in "Favorite Road Trip Routes"

So, this will be a one-way trip?

Only two days in Las Vegas? I've lived there for nearly 12 years and have yet to see it all!

Apologies Mark.. I posted it in there by mistake and didnt know how to remove it!! Schoolboy error!! I would love to recount our route 66 trip..it was a lovely and inspiring journey into 'small town' USA (and I mean no disrespect by saying that). I will post the trip details in a separate thread...

Our Special Forum.

Originally Posted by smurfnsmurfette

I will post the trip details in a separate thread...

Liam, we have a very special forum specifically for RoadTrip Field Reports. Would love to read about your Route 66 trip, as I am sure many others will. We get so many requests for information about Route 66, that it will be great to refer them to your recent experience.

So much to see.

I guess at this stage we are just looking for any suggestions regarding MUST see's and do's along our way.

We dont really do 'Must sees' as the road trip is a personal thing you can base upon your own tastes and interests, but once you get further down the road with your planning I am sure we can help to fine tune it and make alternative suggestions to ensure you get the best from your trip.

.This time we are looking at starting and finishing in Vegas, taking in the states of Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and South Dakota. The details are pretty thin at the moment, but we will be taking in the usual Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, and other wonderful sights along the way..

To create a loop to fit in with these plans [that could also include Colorado from SD back to Utah] you would be close to 3000 mile round trip with detours, or 6 full days of driving . That leaves you with plenty of time to explore some of the many thousands of options you will have on a trip of this size. To get started I usually map out a loop to include my 'must sees' and then start to look at the possibilities in and around that loop. Usually, the original loop reduces in size as the realisation sets in of just how many things there are to see and how quickly time can dissapear and the rest of the loop gets to 'another trip' list.

That's not to say your trip isn't doable, it certainly is. This is an area that has a high concentration of National and State parks with outstanding and diverse scenery, history, towns and cultures. To create a loop to cover your places of interest could include Death Valley, Great Basin NP, Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, Devis Tower, Rushmore, Custer State park, Wind Cave NP, Rocky Mountain NP, Colorado NM, Arches NP, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce canyon, Zion NP, the Grand canyon. This is just a start to what most people would consider 'must see' and there is so much more, including many wonderful 'small' towns.

As I mentoned earlier, there are thousands of possibilities to choose from and you might find that you can see more 'must sees' by reducing the miles and keeping some back for 'trip three', so have a good look around the forums and plannng pages for ideas and keep asking questions as you go.